Shawn Porter makes case for Marcos Maidana fight

After watching Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 knockouts) dethrone Adrien “The Problem”Broner as WBA welterweight titleholder from ringside at The Alamodome, that’s how Porter believes that the division’s top three fighters should be ranked.

Porter (23-0-1, 14 knockouts) is the newly-crowned IBF 147-pound beltholder following his unanimous decision that dethroned southpaw Devon Alexander (25-2, 14 KOs) for the title on Dec. 7.

Porter dictated a physical fight that left both men bleeding from cuts above their eyes and ended Alexander’s winning streak at four consecutive bouts since falling in January of 2001 to Bradley, the current WBO 147-pound beltholder.

In addition, Alexander had represented the last defeat for Maidana, who had scored three consecutive knockouts prior to facing Broner, and had fallen to Alexander by unanimous decision in his 147-pound debut in February of 2012.

“Most definitely. I’m a hot commodity right now, and I think that I have what it takes to beat Maidana, and I think that I have what it takes to make that fight interesting,” said Porter, 26, during an interview with RingTV.com.

“I’m glad that I came out. It was a great atmosphere. The fights were very good. I had a great experience. I think that my future looks bright if I can get that fight against Maidana. I know fights fans want to see a very interesting fight.”

Although there was no rematch clause in the event that Broner lost to Maidana, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer sees that as being among one of the options for the 24-year-old.

Still, Schaefer was impressed with the desire of Porter, who, with his father and trainer, Kenny Porter,, approached him about facing Maidana directly after the fight.

“I will tell you what, I just had the new 147-pound IBF champion here. And Shawn Porter said, ‘You know what? I want to unify.’ So he’s calling out Marcos Maidana as well,” said Schaefer.

“It’s great when you have a young fighter like Shawn Porter. Last Saturday night at The Barclays Center, Shawn Porter was not going to be denied against Devon Alexander. He came to win, and he was not going to walk out without that belt.”

Shawn and Kenny Porter were brought into the ring following the announcement of Maidana’s victory over Broner.

“We asked Richard Schaefer. We said, ‘Hey, we want to unify.’ Richard said, ‘Well, if that’s what you want, then that’s what you will get,’ and he put his arm around Shawn and took Shawn over to the ring,” said Kenny Porter.

“As we got into the ring, Maidana had gotten out of the ring on the other side. But that’s what we want. We want to unify and then move on to the next big fight from there.”

Porter certainly looked as if he could be a threat to anyone in the division south of Mayweather against Alexander, whose run had included a split decision over Lucas Matthysse, as well as the win a unanimous over Maidana.

A southpaw, Alexander had dethroned hard-hitting Randall Bailey for the IBF belt in October of last year before scoring a seventh-round stoppage against Lee Purdy in May.

But in addition to borrowing a page from Bradley, Porter gained confidence from his success as a former sparring partner for eight-division titlewinner Manny Pacquiao, a left-hander he helped to prepare for his triumphs over Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley.

A former junior middleweight who is managed and trained by his father, Porter’s win over Alexander followed September’s unanimous decision over ex-beltholder Julio Diaz that made up for the draw they had in December of 2012.

Shawn Porter said he was surprised by the result of Maidana-Broner.

“It didn’t go the way that I thought it would go,” said Porter. “I actually thought that Broner would move more and use his quickness, but Maidana came in and got the job done.”